The miniseries is the first venture into scripted shows for the producer of 'Survivor' and 'Celebrity Apprentice.' The hope is to reach an underserved audience.

Mark Burnett, one of the most prolific reality-show producers on television, is going from scorched earth to burning bush.

The former military paratrooper who made his name in Hollywood with back-biting, take-no-prisoners programs such as "Survivor," now in its 26th season, and "Celebrity Apprentice," is tackling the Bible in a 10-hour miniseries that marks his first foray into the scripted genre.

The show, which launches Sunday on History channel and runs on consecutive Sundays through Easter, covers the Old and New Testaments and cherry-picks some of the best-known stories from Genesis to Revelation. Burnett and his wife, co-executive producer Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel") — who stars as Mother Mary — have by turns called the project "madly ambitious" and "completely humbling."

Burnett, who has scored in recent years with feel-good fare like NBC's singing contest "The Voice" and ABC's entrepreneurial showcase "Shark Tank," said he wanted to update the Bible for a modern audience. He and Downey still watch one of their favorite classics, Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," as an annual rite but said their three teenagers found it dated.

With a relatively modest budget of $22 million, the producers aimed to create an epic action film with computer-generated images that could wow viewers, whether they're steeped in Scripture or not. "We wanted it to look, sound and feel like a $100-million production, not some old donkeys-and-sandals movie of the past," Downey said. "We have incredible special effects with Moses parting the Red Sea, Jesus walking on water. We have this amazing international cast. We set out to create scale."

Although Burnett's biggest hits may not suggest a turn-the-other-cheek sensibility, his entry into scripted drama, specifically a faith-based series, isn't such a stretch, said Nancy Dubuc, president, entertainment and media for History's parent, A&E Networks.

"It's definitely a different production and storytelling than we're used to seeing from him," Dubuc said. "But it's not foreign to his personal beliefs. I'm fascinated by the big-subject idea, and that it was Mark Burnett doing the Bible was even more compelling to me."

She described "The Bible" as "brand-defining event TV," along the lines of the network's ratings-shattering "Hatfields & McCoys" miniseries from last year and the sweeping 12-hour documentary "America: The Story of Us" from 2010. Executives say they've almost sold out their advertising slots (a major sponsor is Wal-Mart), and History on Sunday is also launching an extravagant epic series, "Vikings."

Burnett said he and Downey, both Christians, started talking four years ago about creating a positive-message project. Their personal interest led them to the Bible, which Burnett called "the most debated book of all time" with lasting influence over art, culture and history. He wasn't daunted by potential criticism of his genre hopping or challenges inherent in taking on the Scriptures.

"I knew it was a huge undertaking, but I'd prayed about it," he said recently on a call from his Malibu home. "Once I'd thought through how to make it work, I never thought for one millisecond about not doing it."

But how, exactly, to switch from telling stories about "Survivor's" tribal council to parables of the ancient tribes?

Burnett and Downey gathered some 40 religious leaders, academics and theologians of all denominations as consultants. They used an amalgam of biblical translations, yet worked from the premise that the Bible is, in their words, "the absolute truth." Alerting viewers that it's a drama taking poetic license, the miniseries carries a note in front of every installment: "This program is an adaptation of Bible stories that changed our world. It endeavors to stay true to the spirit of the book."

A third executive producer is Richard Bedser, who wrote for the Emmy-winning History docudrama "Gettysburg." One of the couple's consultants was Jonathan Bock, president of Grace Hill Media and Hollywood's go-to marketing executive for faith-infused projects whose firm has worked on "The Blind Side" and "The Lord of the Rings."

The faith market can be extremely lucrative, as Hollywood discovered after Mel Gibson's 2004 "The Passion of the Christ" raked in more than $600 million at the box office, so Bock tries to root out the opportunistic. "Sometimes people look at this market purely for the money," Bock said. "But Mark and Roma's enthusiasm for this project was genuine. They care about this story, and they wanted to tell it in a way that hasn't been done before."